Light the Fire
by bloopy
Summary: part two of Take the Bullet. will Goren's new family be safe within the context of his work?
1. Dawn Among Other Things

_It's time to get up already? What is it: crap, it's 6 AM. Better wake her up, too._

Robert Goren turned over in his bed and nudged his fiancé's shoulder, hoping to stir her. "Alex," he said, kissing her neck gently, "it's time to get up. We have to get to work."

She turned and grabbed his waist, pulling her close to him; her legs intertwined with his. She rolled on top of him and subconsciously started performing. He went along with it, letting her guide him into place, feeling her go up and doing whatever she could to release her tension. He began to feel himself inside of her and moved along with her too.

She began to come and started moving faster and stronger, up and down and up and down, until they both started climaxing. "Bobby!" she said passionately and dug into him for dear life as the orgasm came over her and helped him find ecstasy too.

She collapsed next to him and lay there for a few moments, taking everything in, and then stood up and walked naked into the bathroom.

"Good morning to you too!" He said, exhausted. She winked back at him.

A typical first trimester morning.


	2. Today As We Know It

Bobby was dressed in the kitchen making coffee when Alex came out in black work pants and a violet shirt. "Hi honey," he said as she walked toward him, "Are you ready to-"

She kissed him strongly and grabbed his hand to lead him back to the bedroom. _Is this the usual for pregnancies because I could really get used to this._ The last ten weeks had been the best of his life: mentally, emotionally…and sexually. It seemed that every moment she was trying to do something with him, or to him, to release the "imbalance in her system".

Unfortunately, the clock on the archway she was leading him under said different. "Alex, we cant. We're going to be late for work." He pulled her back into the kitchen and sat her down with coffee. He grabbed some orange juice and drank it quickly, hoping that the cool feeling it gave him would take the heat off of his body.

"Jesus, Alex, most pregnant women want pickles and peanut butter or something."

She smiled back up at him. "And how would you know what most pregnant women want?"

"Well, I've been reading…" She loved listening to him talk about books, about anything. During her surrogate pregnancy her hormones just craved raw food and ice cubes; this was definitely a change. Then again, she never had a man to jump at six in the morning during that pregnancy, either. She also noticed that she had relatively no morning sickness. _That part is nice too._

"I know, Bobby, I know. We'd better get to work."

They drove to work with Bobby in the captain's seat; even though Alex usually preferred to drive, Bobby started worrying around week three that the steering wheel would hit her belly and hurt the baby. She was already starting to show; a small curved bump could clearly be seen around the area where her midsection should be. Giving in to his paranoia, she let him do the driving.

They got to work, surprisingly, on time and went to speak to their "new" partners. Technically, the four of them had been switched around for eight weeks, but it still seemed odd for Bobby and Mike to be getting along so well; Alex and Nola felt as if the testosterone level in the room had doubled.

Alex and Bobby sat down at their respective desks and began to work. Nola walked over to Alex and said, "How's the baby?"

"Fine! Thanks."

"I'm glad." Nola waved her red hair in the direction of Ross' office. "The boss wants the men in there pronto."

Bobby and Mike had already gone inside. They sat in the seats and waited for the captain to give his orders. "Guys, the CC is still giving us hell. They've done numerous small bombings around this proximity and are still causing the public loss of sleep. We need to bust them, and quickly, before any other people get hurt.

"Goren, you're going to be with Edward from downstairs, he'll help you figure out how to infiltrate technologically; Logan, you're going to partner up with Falacci for old times sake and pose as a couple being…unchristianlike. Do as much as you can without compromising yourselves and then get back here to report what you saw."

"But Ross," said Bobby, "what about-"

"I've been meaning to speak about that with you Goren. Logan, you can leave to get Falacci and debrief her." Mike got up and left, giving Bobby a pat on the shoulder on his way out. Ross got up and closed the door.

"Goren, how is she?"

"Fine, sir, she really is."

Captain Danny Ross sat down, looked at the piles of papers before him, scratched his head, and looked back up at Bobby. "Trust me, I know what it's like when the woman you love is about to have a baby. I've had two kids myself."

Bobby breathed out a large sigh and sat up straight. "She's handling it really well and she's trying to take on less but…"

"…It's hard for her."

"Yes, and she knows that it's showing and she tries to control it…she just doesn't like to seem vulnerable to people."

"I know the feeling. Look, Goren, _Bobby_, I know that when I first came here I was apprehensive of your taste in doing things. To be perfectly honest, the things that I had heard had unsettled me. I made Eames, I mean _Alex_ head most of the cases because I thought that she could handle the responsibility better, and she seemed to like it.

"But now-don't worry, Detective, I'm not criticizing- it seems like she can't let go of that responsibility, even to take care of herself. Most women take the whole nine months off, and she's sticking herself with three. Hell, I think she'd even stay at work till the day of!"

Bobby laughed to himself. "She probably would."

"Exactly, and there in lies the problem: she won't stop to take care of herself. I know she's noticed the casework I've given Falacci to monitor with her: it's easy stuff. I'm sure she knows that I'm making her take it easy.

"Here's the real reason I called you in, Bobby: I need you to keep her under control for once. The last time you two worked this case they came after her twice; I won't let that happen again under my watch. You are going to work this case mainly at a distance so that Alex doesn't feel the need to get involved. I've never worked with spouses- or soon to be spouses- as detectives before so I'm trusting you to let this be my call."

"Yes sir, I will."

"I'm glad we had this talk, Goren. Keep up the good work."

Alex looked up as he exited the office and walked over to his desk. "Everything alright, Bobby?"

"Yeah Alex, Ross is just giving me a hard time again." She smiled, and for now that was all that mattered to Bobby.


	3. His Turn

"I am so tired!" said Alex as a yawn escaped her lips.

Bobby shut down his computer. "Come on, let's go home."

"No," Alex said, suppressing another yawn. "I want to see what happened to Mike and Nola."

It had been two days since the two had been assigned to "live in sin" and Bobby got the idea that neither of them were having any laughs. "I don't necessarily want to be around when they-"

"Son of a bitch!"

"Oh," said Alex, "they must be back."

Logan walked into the room as if he was on a very short leash that Falacci was tugging on. She fumed past him and knocked over some of Bobby's paperwork. "Sorry Bobby, hi Alex," she said lackluster as she sat at her desk.

"What went wrong this time?"

"Everything, Alex," Mike came over and put a hand on her shoulder. "Everything."

"It wouldn't have happened if someone had stopped drinking enough to pay attention to what was going on!"

"So, Detectives," said Mike, leaning on Bobby's desk, "Here's what happened: I am supposed to be an angry drunk, go figure. So being the unchristian couple that we are I decide to ask her to dance, pretending to be very drunk. She says yes. And when we're dancing I "accidentally" hit her over the head with my glass-"

"You spilled red wine all over the bar, you idiot! You were not supposed to be that drunk!"

"It was what we had agreed to do!"

"What you agreed to do!" she yelled from the other side of the squad room.

"You see," he said, "she never listens. And what happens next: we are supposed to get into a fight, a FAKE fight. But she wasn't joking, oh no…"

He pointed to the sore red spot under his eye, "She decided to get really physical."

Nola came back out, her anger tempering a little, "I wouldn't have hit you with that punch if you had ducked." Alex broke down laughing and Bobby gave her a golf clap.

Mike walked over to her. "Did you guys fight this much in the beginning?"

"Yes," they both said at once, and started laughing all over again.

Mike put his hand on Nola's shoulder. "Look Falacci, this was normal for them too."

Nola moved his hand off. "This doesn't mean anything, we're not getting married, and if you ever touch me when I'm this angry again I'll get my husband to shoot you for me." She walked off with two of the detectives laughing like crazy.

Mike looked down and said under his breath, "Women!"

"Hey!" said Bobby, moving behind Alex. "You should deal with yours! I like mine." Mike walked away as she gave him a kiss.

"Alright," she said, "Now we can go home."

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He opened the door for her and she walked in, like always, but instead of her going to collapse in their room for another night's sleep she said, "Where do you want to go for our honeymoon?"

He put his briefcase on a barstool and sat down on the couch. "I don't know, Alex, where do you want to go?" She shrugged her shoulders and sat with him.

"I have basically everything planned out for next month, and I know you've been reading…" she raised her hands, "I just don't know where to go."

Bobby could tell something was up by the way she was smiling. "Liar. You're letting me pick this time, aren't you?"

She leaned her head on his shoulder. "Yeah, Bobby, I'm letting you pick this time." She watched him think about it, go through different options in his head, before saying, "am I wearing you out?"

"What? No, why?"

"It's just that…I feel that sometimes my being "hormonal" can get exhausting for anyone but me. My mom says it runs in the family."

"It does?" He said, taking her hand in his.

"Yeah, so if I ever get too irritating…kick me."

He laughed softly to himself. "You don't wear me out, Alex; for the last few years I've been afraid you've been getting tired of me, always going off on a case with one crazy antic or-"

Her lips were on top of his again, but this time they were gentler than they had been the past few weeks. She let go and said, "I don't think I could ever get sick of you, Robert Goren, ever."

He looked down at her. "Is it still my turn?"

She smiled up at him. "Yes, it is."

He smiled back. "I say we go to Paris."

"Seriously?" she asked.

"Seriously." He sat back, looked her up and down, and said, "And while it's still my turn…" He scooped her up into his arms and walked her down the hall and into their room.

"Bobby! Put me down!"

"Shh," he said, and sat her down on the bed gently. "Now, Alex, instead of waking me up in the middle of the morning to do whatever you want to do, what should be happening now?"

"I don't know, Bobby, wha-" Suddenly she was on the receiving end of a firm, hard, and long kiss.

He came up for air. "We should be taking our time with one another," he said, moving down the side of her face to her neck with each breath. "You don't have to go so quickly," he said as he switched sides. "It isn't healthy."

"For who?" she asked, awed at the man sitting before her.

"For me," he said, coming back up to her lips. He began undoing her shirt, slowly and steadily, till he slid it back off of one shoulder and began kissing it.

"Alright," she said, resigned to doing things his way.

He slid her blouse off of the other shoulder as she began to undo his. He slid out of it as he unclasped her bra and unbuttoned her pants. He pulled them down, as well, feeling how smooth her legs were along the way. He unzipped his and pulled down his boxers and came on top of her. She kicked off her panties and curled under him.

He used her belly to ground him as he came into her and gently started pumping. He hit every spot she'd missed and within seconds she was coming up to his face to kiss him, wanting more. He moved with her and through her until she climaxed so hard that she started shuddering, and fell into her orgasm. He fell down too, exhausted but happy, and kissed her again. "No more morning rushes; we're doing things right."

"Yes," she said breathlessly, and they both fell asleep.


	4. Line of Sight

The next morning things went a lot easier on Bobby's end. She woke up at the sound of the alarm, kissed him, then went and got ready with no more "interruptions". He got up and made coffee for her, and then went back in to take a shower after she had finished. They got in the car and left for work, no problems, just the way he liked it.

They were halfway there when a car ahead of them hit the side of the road and flipped over. "Whoa!" he said, swerving the wheel so the car wouldn't hit them. They drove passed the smoke and he said, "Maybe we should turn back."

"Bobby I don't think that's such a great idea," she said, looking out of the car; one of the police officers was looking at her with something she couldn't quite place. They drove a little farther when she turned back around to him. "Did you see that man?"

"What man?"

"The cop by the side of the road."

"Oh, that guy; Alex, that wasn't a cop, that was a civilian."

"What? Bobby, I swear-"

"That guy had a gun holster and was wearing black clothes, but his shoes were Nikes and his arms were cuffed behind his back."

"Oh," she said, puzzled. Leave it to her quick thinking fiancé to figure it out and-

"Bobby, stop the car."

"Alex, we're almost-"

"STOP THE CAR."

He looked behind him; the cops were pulling up. He began to slow down but recognized the guy in the driver's seat. Something was not right.

"Alex, I want you to hold on to your seatbelt now."

"Bobby, just listen to what they have to-"

"Alex, trust me." His voice was pleading with her, so she held on and stopped talking.

He spun the car hard into the other lane and drove as fast as he could away from them. "Bobby-"

"Alex, it's the CC. They've got two guys on us."

"The one from the side of the road?"

"Yeah, he must be under orders from some higher ups, but we've got to get to the precinct, and now."

"There coming up again." She saw some siren lights gaining on them.

"You trust me?"

"I trust you," she said, and with that he moved the car onto the curb side and drove, hard. The cop car with its sirens was parting crowds, but Bobby's was moving faster, taking out parking meters as he went. They came to a stoplight and Bobby twisted the car down and around the corner.

"Hopefully they don't know this way to the office," he said, and almost immediately the car appeared behind them. _Damn_, he thought as the back window crumbled into pieces. "Alex, they're firing at us, get down!"

She ducked as he maneuvered in and out of the traffic by whatever means necessary while gunshots fired over her head. She stayed down by the glove compartment for a few more minutes before he jumped out of the car as it screeched to a halt, grabbed her arm through the open window, and yanked her onto the sidewalk. "Run!" he yelled.

They ran up the steps as the elderly door man held the door open and said, "Hello Miss- AAAAHHHH!"

She watched him fall as Bobby yelled "Now!" and dragged her into the hallway and into the elevator as the doors closed.

She couldn't take much more of anything at that moment.

As the doors opened at the floor of the precinct Alex sank to the ground and began to cry. All co-workers around her looked down to wonder what had happened. "Call the captain!" Bobby yelled "Please!"

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Detectives Robert Goren and Alexandra Eames were looked at by the staff doctors and released to go talk to Capt. Ross. They walked through the stares and whispers of their peers and entered his office. Logan and Falacci were there as well.

Nola rushed to Alex and gave her a big hug as Alex began to cry again. "Shh," she said, holding her close, "It's okay, Alex, it's okay." Slowly, Alex began to ease away and hold her head up.

"You're pretty good at that Falacci," said Mike.

"It comes with having kids," she responded.

"Oh my God, the baby!" said Alex, and looked down; the contents of her stomach were held safely inside her. She crumbled into a chair and said to the ceiling "Why?"

"I'm sorry, Goren, they got a hold of one of the cars from the Brooklyn Precinct. The owner of the car that flipped over is now dead."

Bobby sighed, "And the doorman?"

"He had lived a long life. His family will take care of the matter now."

Bobby sat down as well; if today was any indicator of his health he was going to have a heart attack. "What happened, Danny?"

"To be perfectly honest, no one knows at what time they left the precinct. All that they do know is that at nine thirty this morning a tire was shot at from the side of the road of a black SUV."

"One that looks like ours," he said, his head in his hands.

"Yeah. The owner of the car was a TV mogul, go figure."

"That doesn't make me feel any better right now, Logan."

"Sorry man," he said, putting his hand on Bobby's shoulder.

Ross spoke again. "The assailant then entered the car and drove off after yours. Presumably, they realized they had gotten the wrong hit after they saw Alex's face.

"The city will pay for everything, and offer's you its apologies," he finished, surveying the room. It was a sorry sight. Alex's head was buried in her hands, while Bobby sat looking at her as if he was wondering if she was safe enough to touch. The other two detectives stood around awkwardly, trying to not get in the way.

"Logan, Falacci, you can go."

"Thanks, Captain," they both said, and left the office quietly.

"What should we do, Dan?" Bobby asked, still to afraid to touch Alex.

"There's witness protection-"

"I'm not going into that!" Alex said loudly.

Bobby reached over and rubbed her back and she soon began to calm down. "What other option is there?"

Ross sighed, knowing the only other option was the hardest. "Wait. There's going to be a sting tomorrow morning, headed by Logan, to invade their whereabouts: it's on a loading dock off of Queens. If you want we can pay for you to stay at a hotel with a security detail on the exits and in the lobby."

"Thanks, Captain, I appreciate it." He took Alex's hand and pulled her up, before they both exited the room. Her head was so hunched over that she couldn't see the tears peeking through his eyes.


	5. Never Find Them

Logan and a large group of MC cops all headed towards the pier. The detail of vans parked a few warehouses away so as not to arouse suspicion and headed around to the front as Logan and four other cops went to the back door.

At the signal, they broke it down; BAM, it fell like construction rubble to the ground. As soon as the door fell they rushed in, guns up and adrenalin high, to the neon purple lights reflecting on a group of over 100 people.

Some of the women began to scream and move to the back, while the men pulled out knives and guns. Logan and his crew were outnumbered. The men began to circle around him, weapons drawn.

"Drop your weapons!" he said, loudly and clearly.

They laughed, unintimidated, and began to close in. The cops were backed into a corner when the warehouse retractable doors opened and the rest of the squad poured in. A resounding cry of "Drop your weapons!" filled the air, and the CC members complied; this time no one was laughing.

"Where's your leader?" Logan said, moving in on one of the smaller men, his gun at his side. The man, half a head shorter than Logan and scrawny looking, shuddered and pointed to a tall pale man in the back.

The man pointed out smirked, and from far back Logan could already tell that he was going to be trouble. "Well gentlemen," he said, "you finally found CC headquarters."

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In the interrogation room the leader was no different. Pompous and authoritative, he refused to ask for a lawyer and began barking out orders to low ranking MC officials: "Get me water! Phone call now!"., They complied, clearly frightened by the giant of a man before them. Although Logan assumed he was only 6'3", his ego gave him another two feet._ Interrogating him's not going to be easy_.

Logan stood on the opposite side of the table, approaching the questioning in his own objective style. "So, do you try to kill cops every other day for business or is it just for kicks?"

"Why do you think that I do it?"

"Because you gain pleasure from harassing people, innocent people, to get back at anyone and everyone."

"Do I?"

"Yeah, you do." He took out a picture and slid it in front of him. "Do you recognize this man?"

"No," said the accused, pushing it away. "I don't"

"His name is Adam Craig," said Logan. "He assaulted Alexandra Eames thirteen weeks ago in a car outside of an abortion clinic." He put an image of Alex down, a picture at last year's Christmas party. "I think you know which one."

"Yeah, I do." He said, grinning maliciously. "Tell me, when the bitch and her lover reported back about spying on us, how much did your shit brain understand?"

"Don't mess with me," said Logan. "Why would you try to kill a pregnant woman and her fiancé? Don't you and your people support children…if you're not just a lying scumbag."

"God takes those who live a Christian life," he said, showing his true colors. "Those…_people_ have been living in sin for months. They should be protecting others from evil, you all should…but you create it instead. So, seeing as how you can't rid the world of your personal demons, our "society" has decided to rid the world of Manhattan Major Case. Permanently."

"You shit-for-brain dick!" yelled Logan, walking over to pin him against the wall. He got up in the leader's face. "You'd better watch yourself. I know you. I will personally make sure that you stay in a prison cell for the rest of your fucking days." He shoved himself away and walked towards the door. "I'm done with the bastard," he said.

"Detective!" said the man, regaining his composure. "Don't you want to know the fate of the other two detectives?"

Logan turned back, looking straight at him. "They're somewhere where you'll never find them."

"Really? Have you checked their hotel room?"

_No one knew that…oh no._ "Where are they?" Logan fumed, wanting to crush the unscathed figure before him.

"Somewhere where you'll never find them," the leader said, sitting back down. "If I were you, I'd pray to God they make it through the week."


	6. Trapped

Bobby woke up under bright florescent lights, his arms and legs strapped to a table._ Oh no_, he thought, _not again. Please tell me I'm dreaming._ He opened his eyes again: this was definitely not a dream. He looked around to find brick walls, tall and looming over his chained body. A man entered the room and went up to his table, beginning to tighten the straps. "Where is she? Where is my wife?" He started to cry, realizing that he already thought of her as his wife, understanding the gravity of the situation. The man let go of the table and walked out. "You bastard!" Bobby yelled after him.

Alex woke up with a start in a brick room with high walls, in which she was lying on the floor. Looking up, she saw a network of ventilation shafts and fans. She felt dizzy and tired, as if she had been drugged. "Bobby, she said groggily, hoping he could hear her somewhere.

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"Brick basements break detectives!" yelled the leader as he was escorted to a holding cell.

Ever since Falacci had been on the computer, looking through every brick basement in the Manhattan area. She and Logan stayed on the case for hours, checking all files, locations, and area codes until they had narrowed them down to three concrete locations.

"We have to be precise," Ross said to them in his office. "As soon as they find out that we're on to them Goren and Eames are dead. We've caught them but they still have the chance to break Major Case: they're trying to scare us into stopping."

Ross went outside his office to address the waiting squad. "Officers," he said, "we have a crisis on our hands. Alexandra Eames and Robert Goren have been kidnapped. After yesterday's car chase they were brought to a hotel that was moniterred by our own crew. Unfortunately the CC infiltrated our ranks by murdering two officers and stealing their suits and badges. They took both Robert and Alexandra, who is three and a half months pregnant with his child, and hid them God knows where.

"Now, I can understand that many of you are upset or scared and worry 'What if they come after my family, my friends, everyone that I hold dear?' Remember, this is what they want us to be thinking. This is their plan. They want to destroy our squad by scaring you into leaving. They are using fear and anxiety as their primary weapons.

"I urge you, I ask you to stay, not only for their sakes but for the sake of the badge that you wear on your chest. These are delicate times, and every second is prescious in finding these two. Please, remain calm and do your jobs to the best of your abilities to save their lives."

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_She stood in a corner, surrounded by men in surgical masks. They were holding a baby wrapped in a white cloak. She stood up and looked at the child: a fake, battered china doll. "No!" she screamed, "Give me my baby! Where is she?"_

Alex woke up with a start in a cold sweat. She looked around and saw the same four brick walls and metal door. She ran to the door and began pulling on it; it was locked. She banged her fists against the door screaming "Bobby! Bobby!"

Bobby stood up; they had released him from the table hours ago. He heard muffled cries from the other side of the wall. He ran to it yelling "Alex! Alex, are you okay? Is the baby okay?"

The door slowly creeked open and Bobby turned around; the man was back. He grabbed a black bag from the table and walked towards Bobby. "Where is she, you son of a bitch!" he yelled, furious and scared. The man came up to him and punched him in the stomach; he doubled over in agonizing pain as the man slipped the bag over his head, enveloping him in darkness.

The next thing he knew the bag was off of his head and he was in an insolated room. It had a window and a bucket, and was extremely hot for winter. "No!" he heard, "Don't touch me!" In a few moments a man came through the door dragging Alex kicking and screaming with a hood over her head. The man pulled it off suddenly as she stood up, kneeing him in the groin. "That's what you get, you bastard!" he yelled as he stood up, enraged, and slapped her across the face.

"Shut up bitch!" he said, and pushed her over onto the ground where she curled up into the fetal position. He looked at Bobby, saying, "I hope you like jail, cop. You're in one." He walked out of the room and shut the door.

The lights went out and the room converted into gray light. "Alex?" he said as his eyes acclimatized. She lay on the floor, shuddering and sobbing every few seconds. He went over and cradled her in his arms. "It's okay, baby, it's gonna be okay." After a few more minutes she sat up, drying her eyes. "Bobby," she said, "what are we going to do?"

"I don't know," he said, rubbing her back. "We'll have to wait and see." Bobby reached down to touch her stomach. "Is the baby okay?"

"Yeah," she said, "nothing else happened." She looked around the room, saying, "There's no way out."

"We'll have to wait for backup." He looked down into Alex's terrified eyes. "Don't worry, I bet all of Major Case is on this…we'll get out of here."


	7. Bug

Logan and Falacci looked at the information on the three buildings over and over until it made them exhausted. "I feel like the answer's right in front of me," said Nola, rubbing her temples.

"It's been two days, Falacci," said Mike. "Maybe we'd better stay a few hours late."

"Yeah," she said. "I want to find them so badly…"

Mike sat back in his chair, looking over his notes. "What are the three places again?"

Nola opened the case file and pulled out some information. "An abandoned warehouse in Yonkers, an old brownstone in the Bronx, and an empty factory in Jersey."

"All bricked?

"Yeah."

Logan thought for a second. "What's the history behind the brownstone?"

"File says early 1800's to late 1800's it was used as a jail for black convicts, then in 1904 the upstairs turned into an art gallery. In the 1950's it went through renovation-"

"Wait, did you say jail?" He dug through his pile of casework and pulled out a slip of paper. "This schematic says it has a large basement with plenty of insulation; this could be it!"

"They all could be it, Logan, that's why they were on the list-"

"No, Falacci, you didn't speak to this guy; he was so confident that his plan was going to work. This kind of irony is exactly how he thinks: what better way to break a cop than to put him in the basement of a jail?"

"None." Nola looked back at him amazed. "You're thinking like Goren," she said, shutting her case file.

"Yeah, I guess his "finesse" rubbed off on me." set

"You sure this is it?" she sighed.

"Yeah, I'm sure."

She grabbed her gun from the drawer and stood up, strapping on the holster. "Let's get the bastard."

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Bobby and Alex started thinking hard; there had to be a way to get out of that room. "The insulation is old," he said, "circa 1950; you can tell by the material and how it cakes along the edges. This must be an old building.

"Yeah, the bricks on the walls in my room looked like they were crumbling to bits." She felt the insulation. "Dust on everything."

"It's not been used in a long time. They must have found it just for stashing us here." He looked at Alex.

Alex looked back at him; he looked disheveled. "Bobby," she said, "there's something you're not telling me."

Bobby looked towards the wall, his face growing hard. "In the room they strapped me to a metal table."

"Like the one in prison?"

"Yes," he said, turning around. "Alex, I think they have someone on the inside of the department; how else could they know where we live, what we do…there's a bug."


	8. Together

Brian Norbeck sat up at his desk in the squad room, listening in on the conversation between Nola and Mike. When he heard "This could be it" he turned around in his desk and opened the bottom drawer. He took out a gun and stood up, walking silently towards them. When he saw Falacci take out the gun he stumbled and dropped his own right as the captain was walking out of his office.

"What the hell, detecti-"

BANG! The gun went off and the captain fell. Nola turned around and aimed the gun at Norbeck. "Logan, there's a mole."

"I can see the Falacci," he said, standing up and walking towards him. "Put down the gun."

"I'll shoot!" he yelled, walking backwards.

"No, you won't, you're going to hand me that gun." Mike moved closer.

"No, I'm not!" The shooter reached a corner.

"The game's up," said Falacci.

Norbeck contemplated giving up the gun and serving jail time; instead he took his gun and ate it.

BANG! Another bullet flew and hit him in the thigh before he could kill himself. Mike looked back at Nola, who had dropped the gun in shock. "I shot him!" she said, amazed.

Mike rushed over to the captain. "Ross, are you okay? Talk to me!"

"I'm fine Logan!" he said, clutching his bullet pierced arm. "I'll be fine."

"Fine?" Nola said, panicking, "you're bleeding everywhere! Quick, somebody call a bus!"

Mike walked over to Norbeck and kicked him, evoking a scream of pain. "Now we know how they've known all of our movements; it's over."

CICICICICICICICICICICI

The man keeping guard came back into the room to see Alex sitting on the floor, alone. "Where's the other one?" he asked, looking around.

"Nowhere," she said innocently.

"Look bitch if you don't tell me where he is in ten seconds I'll give you something to scream about."

She didn't move.

"One, two, three, four…" He started undoing his belt buckle and unzipping his pants. "Six, seven, eight, nine-" A blow came down hard over the top of his head; he fell over unconscious.

"Ten," said Bobby, running over to Alex.

"How'd you get behind him so fast?" she said, looking up at him in awe.

"Easy," he said, lifting her up to her feet. "You'd be surprised how stupid men can get in front of a beautiful woman."

She kissed him quickly and said, "Let's get out of here."

They walked cautiously down the hall and turned at the bend at the left. They saw the stairs leading out of there ahead of them…and the man who was guarding them.

"Stop!" he yelled, and walked towards them with his gun drawn. Alex grabbed Bobby's hand as he stepped in front of her.

"Don't touch her," he said as the door at the top of the stairs flew open. Cops poured in through the entryway with their guns up; Falacci was at the head of the pack.

"Drop it!" she yelled.

The man, still facing Bobby and Alex, dropped the gun on the floor. The police grabbed him by the arms and hiked him up the stairs. Alex stepped out from behind Bobby and breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks Nola," she said, dusting the dirt of her back.

"You two okay?" she asked.

"Yeah," said Bobby. The three detectives walked up the stairs and out into the moonlight. Outside, Logan walked up to Bobby and gave him a pat on the back.

"Good to see you Goren."

"You too Logan," he said, and sat on the steps.

"What happened?" asked Alex. "How did they-"

"There was a guy on the inside, Norbeck."

"I brought him coffee once," said Alex.

"He tipped them off at the hotel."

"Where is he now?"

"He's in the hospital," Mike smiled. " Falacci shot him."

"Thanks," said Bobby. "I would have done worse."

"Are there any more out there?" asked Alex, holding tight to Bobby's arm.

"No," said Nola, "the sting was successful. You don't have any more to fear from them.

Bobby and Alex were taken to the hospital; they had lucked out: nothing was wrong. They checked her stomach to find some minor bruising but the baby would be fine. They gave her some medication for pain and released them.

Later that night Alex woke up with a start and looked around, making sure she wasn't still in a dark basement; the familiar green walls told her she was at home. She looked around and saw that the sidelight was one; Bobby was still up, staring into space. "Hey," she asked, "are you okay?"

He came out of it and looked down at her. "Yeah, I was just thinking."

"A penny for your thoughts," she said, rolling onto her side.

Lying down next to her, he stroked her hair. "I was just thinking…do you blame me?"

"For what?"

"For all of this, the problems with the group?"

"Bobby," she said, "it wasn't your fault-"

"Yes it is," he said, turning away. "If I hadn't been so wrapped up in work, if I had made you, made us, take this time off Norbeck wouldn't have known where we were and maybe this wouldn't have happened."

"Hey," she said, "turn around." He moved back to face her. "It would have happened anyway. They wanted me to suffer."

"I just-"

"Bobby, no, it had nothing to do with us. In fact, if it wasn't for you I probably would have been stuck in that dark room forever." He held his hand to her face. "I love you more than anything. We made it through this together, now let it go."

"Alright," he said, rubbing his thumb along her cheek.

Alex looked away for a second. "You know," she said, "I've been thinking…I still haven't gotten fitted for my wedding dress yet. I'd better get started, we only have two more weeks."

"You okay for going on with the wedding," he said. "After all of this I was worried that you'd-"

"There's nothing I want more than to call you my husband."

"Really?"

"Really." She took his hand from her face and held it to her stomach. "I want this baby to come into this world knowing that it's mother and father will be together forever."


	9. Epilogue

It was a snowy February morning in Brooklyn. At the church Bobby was standing at the alter with two close friends by his side. Ross sat in the front row with his arm in a sling; out of thanks, Bobby and Alex asked the other two detectives to be part of the wedding. Logan stood next to him as the best man. "Relax," he said to Bobby, "here they come."

Nola walked down the isle first in a blue dress and a small bouquet of lilies, followed by Alex's sister and best friend. Her surrogate nephew threw petals on the ground as Alex came down the isle. Bobby held his breath when he saw her, a vision in a sleeveless white satin dress that hugged her body and belly while the short train followed gracefully down the isle. She got to the alter and took his hand.

"I love you," he said.

"I love you too."

All throughout the ceremony they never let go of each other's hands, not throughout the ring exchange or the kiss, the congratulations or the exit. They held hands at the reception, on the airplane to Paris, and through the city of lights. At the hotel room, with the Eiffel tower in the background, they laid next to each other, still holding hands.

"If you had to," asked Alex, "would you go through it again just to get here?"

Bobby looked her straight in the eye. "I'd walk through fire just to be with you," he said. "I'd light it myself."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Well then," she said with a devilish glint in her eye, "I think it's my turn."

They spent the rest of the night in bliss, mirrored and monitored only by the starry Parisian sky.


End file.
